


Rings

by timeladyleo



Category: Cabin Pressure
Genre: F/M, Fandot Secret Santa, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-14
Updated: 2018-01-14
Packaged: 2019-03-04 21:56:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13373853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/timeladyleo/pseuds/timeladyleo
Summary: Someone from the airdot sees Martin's Father's ring in a pawn shop and buys it back, then finds he's sold what few possessions he has  to fix the van, and just has a mattress in the attic. The airdot come to the rescue.For 88thParallel, for the 2017 secret santa.





	Rings

**Author's Note:**

  * For [88thParallel (CanadaHolm)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CanadaHolm/gifts).



> First, an apology for the delay with this - the original santa dropped out last minute, but any other delay is my own. 
> 
> Secondly, a note on the timeline - post/alternate Zurich, where Martin never went to Switzerland, but equally was never in a relationship with Theresa. I suppose I have gone down the beginnings of marlas, but it is open to interpretation. I hope that this is clear in the text. 
> 
> Have a fantastic new year!

“Carolyn, over here. Aren’t these ones lovely?” Carolyn glanced over to see Herc smiling, the soft light of the jewellers making his face glow, the sparkling lights dancing off his face and glinting in his eyes. She wandered over to him, looking at the rings he was pointing to. 

She had been somewhat reluctant to come with him, or at least had pretended to be. In fact, she was very pleased that he wanted them to agree on wedding rings rather than just going out and surprising her. Of course, it was frustrating that sales assistants kept cooing over them as if they were some cutesy couple about to engage in first-time marital bliss. That wasn’t the expectation here, not at all, but she wasn’t about to explain that to a spotty teenager who went all gooey just because she could be perceived as a cute old lady. 

Herc had just laughed at her scowl. 

She looked down into the cabinet, dazzled by the diamonds that caught the lights that were deliberately placed to make them glitter. But Herc knew her better than diamonds, and was pointing at a pair of simple, silver bands with some shallowly carved wave-like patterns. She nodded, leaning in for a better look, and not complaining when Herc took her hand. Without fanfare, she squeezed it and asked the attendant if they could have a closer look. 

Even Herc rolled his eyes at the young girl’s giggle. Still, she wasn’t to know they had six exes between them. After scurrying off to get the key, she slid the tray out of the cabinet and handed them each one of the rings. Carolyn nodded again. “These’ll do, Herc.” 

“I’m so glad, darling.” He smirked, knowing he could get away with the endearment because they were quite literally buying their wedding rings. Carolyn just pretended not to hear. 

Her ring needed a small amount of adjustment - it was ever so slightly tight, and so the girl measured her finger and promised in earnest that she would be back soon. The clock on the wall had an ominous, loud tick, and standing still was starting to drive Carolyn mad, so she decided to wander about and browse the rest of the collection. 

One of the ornate cases had a hand-written sign in beautiful calligraphy - “Previously owned, refurbished”. She looked inside at the assortment of rings and necklaces, most with a set of ornate stones that had clearly been gifts once, but weren’t quite hitting the mark any more. She was about to move on to the next display but one of the rings caught her eye. It took her a moment to realise just why it was familiar, because it wasn’t special in any way; not ornate or with metalwork, nor even as shiny as the rest. But it was a ring she knew well, because she had been there when the goose had finally given it up. 

“Herc, come here.” He obeyed without question. “Doesn’t this look the spitting image of Martin’s signet ring?” Herc peered in. 

“I do believe it is. I wonder what he’s doing selling it?” The clock ticked low in the background, echoing in Carolyn’s chest as she remembered how much it meant to him. She could think of a dozen reasons why he would sell it, and none of them were good. A stab of guilt shot through her. Perhaps she should have given him some back payments for his services, instead of just agreeing to pay him full wages on the next trip. 

“Well, we can’t have any old person getting their hands on it, can we?” Herc nodded, knowing exactly what Carolyn planned and the reasons why. 

They left the shop, half an hour later with three rings in a plain paper bag. Carolyn, after all, had argued against the heavily branded one in case someone saw it and guessed what it was for. 

~~~

Martin was just glad that it was the summer, not wanting to imagine the bone-chilling cold that he had known some years before. His room looked so bare now. All he had were the wooden slats that held up the roof, and the mattress that was well past any date a mattress company would suggest replacing it by. His laptop sat on the floor, near his only mains socket, and his phone was on charge beside it. 

He had been looking in false hope at flats, seeing which ones were affordable on his new salary. He’d have to wait until he’d done a few trips, but he had his eye on one that was not too far from the airport, and had a modest enough rental price. 

It was a shame he couldn’t have pawned them too, because they would have been worth far more than the wooden stool he sold to the firewood guy for a fiver. 

Without thinking, he touched his finger where the ring used to be, feeling the smooth skin through years of wearing. It hadn’t been worth very much, but it had bought him the repairs he needed, covered it completely, so the stool and the desk and the lamp brought him food. 

His flight manuals hadn’t been worth anything at all, so they were his desk now, sitting on his single mattress with only a single blanket. 

A Boeing-747 took off in the corner. Blinking, he reached over for his phone, wondering who would be texting him on a day off. His mother hadn’t figured out texts, had barely figured out calls, and he didn’t _know_ anyone else. He unlocked it, smiling at his lockscreen photo of MJN. It was all of them reduced to a photo - Carolyn looking as though she were trying to be stern, Arthur leaping into a blur, Douglas smirking and leaning just in front of Martin in an attempt to obscure him, and Martin shying away. 

It was Douglas. That was confusing enough, but anxiety froze his fingers more than any chill could at the message - “Meet at the airport in ten.” They didn’t have a trip, did they? He was sure he’d know about the trip, and have planned for his first MJN salary better. Why did Douglas do this? Still, he wasn’t going to go against orders. 

He debated putting his uniform on, but decided against it, partly because he needed it dry cleaning, and partly because it would serve them right to have not told him. He looked for anything that was clean, and ran his head under the tap to make himself look less bedraggled. At least the hot water was covered in his rent. 

~~~

He turned his car off and sat, looking out the window. Where were they? He sent a text to Douglas, and the reply was in his hand before he could blink again. “Inside. Hurry up.” He got out of the car and half-jogged, his heart pounding. 

They were all sat in the waiting room, Carolyn and Herc, Douglas and Arthur, and even Theresa with a woman he didn’t recognise. They were sat facing away from the door, and no-one noticed him come in, of course. Panting, he said “What the hell, guys? Why am I here?” 

Arthur jumped up and ran over to him, engulfing him in a hug. “Martin! Why didn’t you tell us?” When he finally freed himself, he frowned. 

“What?” The rest of them had joined them now, smiling. Herc held a gift-wrapped box in his hands. He held it out to Martin, whose hands shook as he took it and opened it. 

“My- my dad’s ring?” He stammered round the lump in his throat, trying not to let the tears in his eyes spill out. Carolyn nodded. 

“We noticed it and thought we ought to return it to its rightful owner.” Martin bit his lip. 

“I can’t- I can’t thank you enough. Where did you-? Does that mean-” 

“It doesn’t matter!” Carolyn cut him off as Arthur spoke over her.

“Yeah! They got rings and they are _brilliant_!” Martin wiped his eyes, letting out a watery laugh. Douglas touched his shoulder in comfort and produced a tissue which Martin took with a smile. 

“Now, sit down and tell us what's going on.” Douglas said, leading him to a seat. 

Martin found the whole tale falling out of him before he could really think, telling them all about how he needed new brake pads for his van, and desperately, even though he was planning on selling it soon because no-one would buy a van needing repair. And so he had been desperate, and it was probably only a few weeks until they had their first job, so it wasn’t going to kill him to live frugally for a while. It had just hurt to have to sell off everything. 

And it meant the world to him that they had found and returned his ring. Carolyn stepped forward and told him that she had deposited a full trip’s wage into his bank account for the reason of previous trips. He had wanted to leap to his feet and hug her, but instead had just burst into tears. Douglas sat next to him. 

“Please, Martin, come and live in my guest room until you can get a new place. I know Arthur wanted to offer, but Carolyn is already entertaining Herc, and Theresa and Lisa, and I have a room that is begging to be lived in.” Martin hugged him, not knowing what to say. Part of him wanted to refuse, but the idea of living in Douglas’ house, with Douglas’ nice big bed and Douglas’ clean kitchen…

“If you’re sure it wouldn’t be too much bother-” 

“Don’t be ridiculous, Martin, just say yes to him!” Theresa interjected, leaning into hug him too. Since Vaduz, Theresa had become a long term patron of MJN, hiring them for everything she could. Arthur had offered to design an official ‘sponsored by Liechtenstein’, and indeed did, but it was politely rejected. At the moment, Theresa was picking up Maxi to take him home for the summer, and had brought her new girlfriend over for a small holiday. 

Martin was aware that they hadn’t been introduced, but he was sure that Theresa had told her about him. He wasn’t sure if this was a bad or a good thing. 

“She’s right, Martin, I absolutely insist. I’ll even help you look for a place.” Martin leaned into him again. 

“And Mum said she’s taking us all out to dinner tonight! It’s a treat because she and Herc are properly engaged now and- oops!” Arthur clapped his hand over his mouth as if he had said too much. From Carolyn’s face, it was clear that he had, but it was noticed that she didn’t complain at all as Herc laughed and put his arm around her. 

“It’s our treat, Martin, and everyone. Let’s call it a family dinner.” Carolyn smiled at this, satisfied with the conclusion.

Martin couldn’t help but cry, and laugh, and smile. Because MJN was his family, the best family he had ever had, and he would be a fool to think that they didn’t care.


End file.
